Across the Fort Hays State University campus, you will find many examples of what are called high-impact educational practices. They are important because these teaching and learning practices have proven effective for college students with varied backgrounds and learning styles. They exist at FHSU because our faculty are energized by working with and mentoring our students. I truly value this emphasis and the examples I see on a daily basis of how our faculty invest in our students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
From first-year seminars to our living and learning communities, to our undergraduate research opportunities, our faculty step forward and go deeper in driving student success. Each of these programs is based on personal relationships between students and faculty. They are squarely focused on helping students become successful \u2013 and this is important \u2013 in ways that truly matter to the student. Our faculty mentor and fuel the dreams of our students, and that makes the FHSU student experience the best investment in one\u2019s future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here\u2019s just one\nexample. It is the story of Dr. Whitney Whitaker, assistant professor of\npsychology, and student Skyler Krull, a senior psychology major from Durango,\nColo. Skyler and Dr. Whitaker met when Skyler\u2019s academic advisor, Dr. Trey\nHill, learned of Skyler\u2019s interest in areas that aligned with Dr. Whitaker\u2019s\nresearch. So, Dr. Hill encouraged Skyler to email Dr. Whitaker. Skyler followed\nthrough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After working\ntogether on a research poster for our annual Scholarly and Creative Activities\nDay in the spring of 2019, Skyler approached Dr. Whitaker with an idea. He\nwanted to come up with a way to try to help people who suffer from\ndrug-resistant epilepsy. This population finds very limited \u2013 if any \u2013 relief\nfrom their seizures through the use of medications. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI sent Dr. Whitaker an ambitious research proposal, and to my surprise, she began to help me realize my vision of conducting a telehealth study to measure the effect ashtanga yoga has on people with epilepsy,\u201d Skyler shared. \u201cThis is an incredibly involved study, and the fact that she trusted me to conduct a study like this demonstrates her selfless character and altruistic desire to support my growth as a researcher.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Skyler said\nthat being able to work on this project \u201csurpassed my wildest dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDr. Whitaker\nhas involved me in every aspect of the research process. She helped me with\nthings like: study design; procuring approximately $7,000 in funding; the IRB\napplication; editing my work and providing feedback; and putting in many hours\nto assist with recruitment for this project,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are countless\nother ways Dr. Whitaker has helped make my research idea a reality; however, I\nsimply do not have space to mention them all here. What I can tell you is that\nDr. Whitaker cares about making our study the best it can be while supporting\nmy personal growth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With Skyler\u2019s idea crystallized, he and Dr. Whitaker worked together to develop the study. They are currently testing the effectiveness of a behavioral intervention at reducing seizure frequency and improving the quality of life for people who suffer from drug-resistant epilepsy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a side note, our students who have an interest in research have the opportunity to work alongside faculty from their very first semester \u2013 and it is incredible what they are learning and accomplishing. At many universities, such research opportunities are reserved for upper-class students and often only for graduate students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Skyler and Dr.\nWhitaker are collecting physiological data through the use of sensors that they\nsend out to participants in the mail. According to Dr. Whitaker, they \u201chave had\na very neat opportunity to meet participants from all over the country who are\ncompleting the study, and have been fortunate enough to collaborate with some\nincredible people through epilepsy organizations and hospitals in various\nstates.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The fact that\nthey are working together in such important and meaningful work is impressive.\nBut one thing that might surprise you is that Skyler and Dr. Whitaker have\nnever met in person. Skyler is an online student living in Colorado. They\u2019ve\nbeen collaborating and working together through Zoom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr. Whitaker\ndescribes Skyler as a remarkable student and an incredible person. I love her\ndescription of him because it captures the respect and admiration that our\nfaculty, like Dr. Whitaker, have for the students with whom they work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe makes me\nfeel like her equal,\u201d Skyler said of Dr. Whitaker. \u201cShe is always\ncompassionate, considerate and humble. She has given me so much and only\nexpects my best effort in return.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Skyler will\napply for graduate programs to start next fall after he earns his bachelor\u2019s\ndegree from FHSU. Dr. Whitaker says, \u201cIt\u2019s been a pleasure to collaborate with\nSkyler and to work on a project that\u2019s really meaningful to him and to so many\nothers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This story is\nonly one of a gazillion examples of how our faculty invest in our students. I\nam confident Skyler will go on to graduate school and make a positive impact on\nour world. I am grateful and honored that while Skyler leaves to change our\nworld, Dr. Whitaker will remain and invest in the hopes and dreams of many more\ncurrent and future Tigers who will follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tisa Mason is president of Fort Hays State University.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Across the Fort Hays State University campus, you will find many examples of what are called high-impact educational practices. They are important because these teaching… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37698,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12323,55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-life","category-opinion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Mason-Tisa-040A6662.jpg?fit=750%2C1050&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=56003"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56004,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56003\/revisions\/56004"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/37698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=56003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=56003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=56003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}